From today, all I can think about is how kindness is important. So many people are vulnerable and reliant on that. It's difficult when we're busy and tired and thinking about all the things we have to do, but really, when it comes down to it, looking after each other is one of the most important things we can do.ou're there, the more the cracks show.

Monster Belt - Chapter Six It didn't seem to apply to buildings. They towered out of the ground, blocking your view even when you closed your eyes. She stood in front of the over tall, over wide doors of the Bunkhouse Hotel. She'd been annoyed that Harris wanted to meet there. 'You know it well, don't you?' he'd said, 'we can have a coffee, I'll have a look at the building, all the restoration stuff and then you can show me your precious moors.' She couldn't remember using the term precious. It wasn't a word she used. That must be him taking the Mickey again, ever so slightly, but doing it just the same. Her dad called it 'Extracting the Michael.' She wondered if he'd understand that.

My stars today, from Numerology: September 28th 2012 Question the hell out of your life. If you don't, no one else will. Keep in mind that continuing to operate due to fear is the biggest pansy excuse that exists! Once you've done that, this day is giving you the added strength and conviction to do what you know you need to. I didn't think, at the moment, I'm operating from fear. Just getting on with what needs to be done. But, I don't think enough about what I want from life in any definite plan way. I do know what I want, haven't worked out how to get there, that's all.

Monster Belt - Chapter Five Jess pictured how police divers would hold the long, dark shape of an abnormally large trout above their heads when they resurfaced, the fish's skin gleaming in bright sunshine, dripping water and making rainbows. She could hear the crowd's disappointment and flurry of nervous anticipation as they realised there had been no mysterious Mere Monster, only another explainable human tragedy. They'd wait for the drowned boy's body to be brought up, but only Jane knew there would be no resulting half-naked corpse. On the bed of the small lake, lying at the entrance to a cave, Jordan King's body would tap to be let in so that it could escape the mayhem of grief and drift down to the sea.

The NHS

Oh and the NHS are on target etc etc? Yesterday, visiting Mum in Wythenshawe Hospital, short of staff on the ward as usual, one male patient escaped. As one nurse said, we've better things to do than go running all over the hospital. Turned out he fell, covered in blood, went home, police called (don't they have better things to do?) and he was back in A&E. And the patient probably was disorientated, so may not have been totally compus mentus, just guessing. And then the patient in the next bed to mum, with a catheter, smeared her excrement all over herself, so two nurses, I'd only seen three on the ward, had to completely wash her down and change the bed and this wasn't the first time, as the escapee wasn't the first time either, and the evening meal was about to be served. As the male nurse said, 'It's not fair on the patients and it's not fair on us.' So. The NHS are on track are they?

Monster Belt. Chapter Four ....the warm, early afternoon sunshine felt good on her skin, with the added bonus that outside, she could give him the tour, shake hands and soberly say goodbye, farewell, hopefully won't see you next year. But as she walked along the pavement with Harris at her side, she felt again the bewilderment that had almost drowned her the previous evening; that's why she'd agreed to the drink yesterday and the walk today; she had always been searching for someone with a monster of their own.

Monster Belt - Chapter Three Jess bought a copy of his book. Claire looked at her in disbelief, but she didn't respond, sitting instead on one of the many vacated seats as people milled about. Lifting the slim volume closer to her face, she inhaled an aroma that reminded her vaguely of sawdust and resin and a wooden beamed building cradled into the valley below The Mere. In that vast, newly renovated Bunkhouse, she'd seen an un-noticed drop of sap, trapped immortal on the wall, hanging with neglect. Immediately, she was transported back to how the Bunkhouse used to be with its grey wooden sleeping platforms looking as worthless as a stack of empty bread trays in a disused bakery.

Monster Belt - Chapter Two The sun dipped low over the hill, sending its lingering beam through the long village hall windows. In its warm terracotta glow, a mixed group of Crypto zoologists, journalists and local residents crowded inside the old stone building with its wide open doors attempting to catch the breeze. Jess sat on one of the chairs on the back row at the rear of the hall, next to her best friend. 'I can't see,' Claire strained her neck. 'Let's stand over there.' Jess pointed. Giving up their chairs, they leant against the wall near the exit for the toilets. On a platform, at the front of the room, a panel of two sat behind a long desk. 'We've heard it all before,' Jess yawned, looking through the doorway at the freshly cut grass that sloped down to the long line of parked vehicles. 'Don't even think of leaving,' ordered Claire, 'This could be just the place to meet Mr. Right.' Jess mentally whisked through everyone she had ever dated and deduced there was no such thing as Mr. Right.

Monster Belt - Chapter One The village of Hawksmoor overlooked a stretch of green water called The Mere. As a child, Jess Swift had been indoctrinated about the legendary creature that supposedly lurked in its hazy depths, but she didn't believe it existed. Now grown up, she still liked to sit on the hill and gaze down on the small lake as she had done as a teenager. Only now, she made sure she never looked past it, down the sloping fields to the hollow of ground with the large barn-like hotel at its centre.

Holding Back

Many of my main characters are emotionally stunted. Does this mean I am? It's that 'holding back' thing that keeps cropping up. How to stop holding back? Will talking to a counsellor help? Will Biodanza help? I think I'll go with the latter, but then as someone pointed out, okay, physical activities, dance etc, may release something on the outside, but you also need to talk about this. It's the 'not talking' that's the problem. Whatever it is, it keeps cropping up and needs facing/sorting/resolving.

Zadie Smith's Ten Rules of Writing

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/19/zadie-smith-10-rules-of-writing/

Not getting a great deal of writing done at the moment. But then, little Eureka moments keep happening and those are to be thanked. Monster Belt is coming together. I'm making tutus, not the Royal Ballet type, but colourful costume type ones, making little flowers for Juba tops and have ideas and fabric and desires for fabric...time, time, let me be a better manager of time and also have more of it for these things.

Titles again

So, Monster Belt...title. Weaving the Belt is one I'm playing with. Monster Belt has too many suggestions of fantasy and the book will be disappointing to people who are looking for that and find this is about something different. And what is The Belt? That area between two latitudes in the northern hemisphere where the majority of mythical creatures are found. But what is mythical and what is real? Do myths grow from truths? Will Harris find what he is looking for in The Belt and will Jess be able to confront what she knows is there because she saw it years ago? Much, to do, but the book is complete. Going back now, editing, re-writing. And time.

Juba do Leao at Solfest, 2012